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In celebration of the release of the 20th Anniversary Edition of QUEENSRŸCHE EMPIRE on November 9th (EMI/Capitol), check out the stream of RESISTANCE (recorded live at London’s Hammersmith Odeon on 11/15/90).

“Resistance” became the tour opener for the Queensrÿche shows of the 90s. Singer Geoff Tate and guitarist Michael “Whip” Wilton share their thoughts:

“The song Resistance was a song written about protecting the environment. This is a cause I felt connected to when we wrote the song and a cause I still feel strongly about today.” – GEOFF TATE

“Resistance was one of the last songs recorded for Empire. I had the parts ready and Chris (DeGarmo) and I pieced the music together for Geoff to sing this idea he had about the resistance in America at the time. The song recorded fast and my solo was a one taker. Kind of a whip jig.” – MICHAEL WILTON

SPECIAL EDITION DIGIPAK AND STANDARD CD AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 9th STRICTLY LIMITED COLLECTOR’S EDITION LP BOX SET DUE OUT NOVEMBER 23rd
Acclaimed music and entertainment writer Bryan Reesman will be premiering the track “The Bread of Wickedness” off of VIRGIN STEELE’s new album “The Black Light Bacchanalia” Bryan will also be hosting a contest on his site, where fans will be able to enter to win a copy of “The Black Light Bacchanalia” and a VIRGIN STEELE poster. Listen to the song at http://tinyurl.com/vspremiere . Make sure to enter the contest at http://tinyurl.com/2657ur8.

VIRGIN STEELE‘s “The Black Light Bacchanalia” will be released in four formats, three of which will be released on November 9th in North Amercia: a standard CD, limited edition CD Digipak with a bonus CD, and digital download. The fourth version is the strictly limited edition LP box set which will be released on November 23rd in North America. Each version will have its own unique artwork. The details of the strictly limited edition LP have just been announced, they can be seen below:

The box set includes:

– 3 LPs with printed inner sleeves + 1 bonus track

– the jewel case version of the album

– a full colored poster

– a full colored sticker

– a full colored postcard

– 12 page booklet in vinyl format with the Virgin Steele history written by David DeFeis

VIRGIN STEELE mastermind David Defeis said the following about “The Black Light Bacchanalia:

“It is a long album…close to 80 minutes…The album (to be really brief), concerns the reversal of all things…Once conquered by invading cultures, older Pagan deities become the demons…of the new religion. “The Black Light Bacchanalia” is a reversal of the sacred sexual customs, and the final desecration of the “Goddess Principle”, switching from matrilineal descent to patrilineal descent, with the rise of the idea of the Mountain-Fire God…. And it also has to do with ancient fears such as the fear of the sun not rising…Lyrically it is a kind of continuation of the story I told on the last album…Musically it is quite something else…”

http://www.myspace.com/spvmusic
Attention Deficit Delirium covers a wide range of media, from music to movies to theater, but often with a slant towards the dark side of art. Recent interviewees include Cary Elwes (SAW 3D), William Friedkin (director of The Exorcist), Serj Tankian, Wolf Hoffmann and All That Remains frontman Phil Labonte.

Legendary rock band The Cult prepares to release new music on November 16th via innovative music capsules, heralding a new era of music delivery that will impact the way we hear music for years to come.

Legendary rock band The Cult prepares to release new music on November 16th via innovative music capsules, heralding a new era of music delivery that will impact the way we hear music for years to come. Capsule 2: New Blood Deep Cuts features new songs “Embers” and “Until The Light Takes Us,” live recordings of some of the band’s huge hits and an intimate look into The Cult’s rehearsal space, with a never before seen warm-up performance of “Black Angel.” Rather than revisit the traditional method of releasing a long form CD, the band is pioneering a new way of providing material. Capsules span multiple media formats including vinyl, digital, USB, CD and DVD formats, and can be purchased at: http://cultcapsulestore.com.

Frontman Ian Astbury explains, “We are stepping away from the conventional system. By including new music, live music and film, we are giving our fans the opportunity to own other creative visions. The Capsule is a way of delivering music in bites, quicker and fresher than in the context of an album format.”

Capsule 2: New Blood Deep Cuts’ lead track, “Embers,” will be available exclusively on iTunes beginning November 1st for 2 weeks, while iTunes’ exciting new music-oriented social network site called Ping boasts an exclusive On Demand preview streaming of “Embers, the “Black Angel” rehearsal film and new band photos. For an advanced taste of “Embers”: http://aderra.net/Embers_Preview.html.

On the heels of their wildly successful Love Live Tour celebrating their 1985 groundbreaking album, The Cult announces a new run of U.S. dates on their L’America Tour kicking off October 28th in Chicago. UK dates begin January 18, 2011 in Leeds. Fans are afforded the unique opportunity of leaving the venue each night after a Cult concert with a full recording of the show on a USB flash drive – to relive each incendiary moment.

The Cult is Ian Astbury (vocals), Billy Duffy (guitar), Chris Wyse (bass), John Tempesta (drums) and Mike Dimkich (rhythm guitar), who worked with producer Chris Goss (Queens of the Stone Age, Unkle) to bring the new capsule recordings to life.

“Our latest recordings are a mixture of violent guitars, emotive vocal performances with high melody and driving beats,” offers Astbury. “Textured metaphysical rock music for the contemporary music head.”

In the 80s, hair bands ruled. They were all over the radio, all over MTV, and all over anywhere one could look. And while a lot of people thought that most of them looked like girls, there were a few bands that actually had girls in them. In this edition of Vie’s Verses, I’m paying tribute to some of the best female fronted bands of yesteryear. So grab your aqua net, your dog eared copy of Hit Parader, and your dual cassette boom box, and let’s take a ride down memory lane.

Vixen

Vixen was huge in 1988/1989 with their self-titled debut album and smash hit, Edge Of A Broken Heart. Their appeal was deeper than just the music, however. As an all female band, filled with beautiful women, the guys loved Vixen for more than their songs. Rationally, Edge Of A Broken Heart is not a song that a dude could pump his fist to. It’s a song about a woman who is trying to avoid heartbreak. That’s not very manly. But the guys found themselves singing along anyway, because these chicks were hot!

Vixen formed in Minnesota in the mid-80s and then moved to Los Angeles, California, to join the smoking hot L.A. music scene. The fact that they were an all girl band certainly helped to get them the attention of record execs. After enjoying huge success with their first album, Vixen released Rev It Up in 1990. Unfortunately, Rev It Up was not promoted by the band’s record label, EMI, as well as their debut album was, and record sales on Rev It Up were poor. In 1991 the band split up.

Where are they now?

In 2001, as hair metal was making a huge revival, Jan Kuehnemund reformed Vixen with two other original members and a new bass guitar player. Halfway through their first tour, the band split up again. Kuehnemund, determined to keep the band‘s name alive, hired a new lineup and continued to tour and record under the name Vixen. Their last show was at the 2009 Rocklahoma. Since then, there has not been much activity from the band, but there are rumors of a possible new album and tour in the works for 2010/2011.

Did you know?

80s pop star, Richard Marx, wrote and arranged Edge Of A Broken Heart for Vixen at the request of EMI.

Warlock

Led by the beautiful and highly talented Doro Pesch, Warlock was a heavy metal band that formed in Germany in 1982. Their third album, True As Steel, was released in 1986, and brought the band recognition in the US. The single, Fight For Rock, was picked up by North American radio, and the band found a new following during the height of the hair metal years. Though most members of the band rotated in and out of Warlock, Doro Pesch always remained Warlock’s front woman. Warlock would find even more success once their videos started getting regular play on MTv’s Headbangers Ball. By the late 80s, all of the original band members had left Warlock. Doro had to change the name of the band (to Doro) due to Warlock’s original manager suing for the naming rights to Warlock.

Where are they now?

Doro Pesch is still performing under the Doro moniker and released a new album in 2009. Guitarist Peter Szigeti went on to play with many other bands, most notably U.D.O. Guitarist Rudy Graf went on to join the band Rage after leaving Warlock in 1985. He left the band Rage in 1987. Bassist Frank Rittel left Warlock at the end of the True As Steel Tour and little has been heard of him since. Drummer Michael Eurich left Warlock to join the band Casanova where he recorded three albums with them. His drumming activity has been quiet since then. Doro is still recording and touring in Europe and North America.

Did you know?

In 2008, Pure Steel Records released the first official tribute to Warlock which included special appearances by members of the band.

Saraya

Fronted by the gorgeous Sandi Saraya, Saraya was a New Jersey based band that had some modest radio hits, including their big single, Love Has Taken Its Toll. Never wanting their album to sell based on Sandi’s beauty, the front woman actually insisted that most of her face be hidden for the album’s cover shoot. Saraya only released two albums, and their second album, When The Blackbird Sings is hardly known by anyone except the truest of metal fans. After the release of their second album, keyboardist Gregg Munier quit the band, and Saraya decided to go their separate ways.

Where are they now?

Keyboardist and founding member, Gregg Munier, died in 2006 due to complications from pneumonia.

After Saraya split up in 1991, Sandi Saraya married Tesla bassist Brian Wheat, but they soon divorced. Since then, Sandi went on to marry again and is raising five children with her current husband.

Guitarist Tony Bruno is currently performing with Danger, Danger, although he is not an official member of the band.

Drummer Chuck Bonfante has been in and out of different bands since the demise of Saraya.

Earlier this year, rumors abounded that Saraya would be playing a reunion show, their first show in over 18 years, at the Firefest in the UK. Unfortunately, this never happened. Tony Bruno and Chuck Bonfante claim that Sandi was never committed to the reunion and she backed out at the last minute after demanding an exurbanite amount of money to play the festival. Sandi claims this is not true, that she just wanted enough money to cover the expenses of her family traveling to the festival with her, so that her children could see her perform. Her husband recently underwent surgery and the medical bills depleted her savings. It is not known whether Sandi and her former bandmates have spoken since her decision to not perform at Firefest (which took place just last week (October 30th and 31st). Whether there will be a reunion in the future still remains to be seen.

Did you know?

Saraya was in the midst of recording their third album when the band decided to call it quits.

Smashed Gladys

Smashed Gladys was a band that flew under everybody’s radar, but whose debut album is currently fetching a small mint on EBay and Craigslist, when they can be found. Fronted by the sleazy hot Sally Cato, Smashed Gladys released their debut album, Smashed Gladys in 1985. They followed that up with the excellent Social Intercourse in 1988. While not receiving much airplay or video time on MTV, Smashed Gladys went on to form a small following of hard core fans. Due to lack of support and promotion from the record company, the band decided to split up in 1989 while recording their third album, Tales From The East Side. The album has never been released.

Where are they now?

Front woman, Sally Cato, completely disappeared from the music scene after Smashed Gladys hung up their instruments. For most of her adult life she has been a Tibetan Buddhist. She currently owns a marketing and design firm in New York City. She still conducts interviews with glam/rock magazines and websites from time to time.

Guitarists Bart Lewis and Roger Lane, as well as bassist J.D. Malo have been in and out of bands since the breakup of Smashed Gladys. Drummer Matt Stelluto is currently employed by the New York Mets.

Social Intercourse has recently been re-released on Wounded Bird Records and can be found online for a decent price. Sally Cato has not ruled out the chance for a Smashed Gladys reunion if someone can put together a budget for the band to reunite.

Did you know?

Smashed Gladys was originally managed by Gene Simmons.

Bitch

Bitch was formed in 1980 by lead singer, Betsy Bitch. Their debut album, Be My Slave was released in 1983 and received some rotation on rock radio stations. In 1987 Bitch released their follow up album, The Bitch Is Back, two years after originally recording it. During that time, the band built a large following on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, playing such noted clubs as The Roxy and The Whiskey A Go-Go. By the time The Bitch Is Back was officially released, the band had a large fan base. This helped sales of their sophomore release tremendously. In 1989, Bitch released their final album, A Rose By Any Other Name. Since that time, Betsy Bitch has been the only original member to remain in the band.

Where are they now?

Betsy Bitch has continued to stay in the music scene. In several interviews she has stated that Bitch never officially broke up, they would just go on extended hiatus. Bitch continued to play festivals and do some minor touring throughout the 90s and 00s.

Very few bands surprise me in 2010, but metalcore act All That Remains have done just that. With the band’s new song, “For We Are Many”, it seems like the band is leaning more towards modern metal, than metalcore, and as it turns out, I like this song a lot.

Check out the video, “For We Are Many” below. If you like what you hear, you can download the song for free below!